Technology can improve your communication and make you more efficient
(thus making you a better teacher!)

Name whip, where Undergrad, department, expectations

Spectrum (students stand up and position themselves along a continuum whose
boundaries are given below, one at a time):

Teaching Experience: Lots / None

How much do you currently use technology in your teaching: Completely
wired / Luddite

How much would you like to use technology in your teaching: Lots
/ None

Talk overview

What is technoloy? (in / out of class)

Why use technology?

Why not use technology?

Technology tips

Resources

What is instructional technology? (listed in increasing order)

In Class

None (just speaking for the entire lecture / discussion, like they did
in the middle ages)

Writing on a board

Blackboards

Whiteboards

Overheads

Written in real time

Pre-written by hand

Output from computer (using Powerpoint, for example)

Handouts (I strongly encourage this)

Outline of your talk (or a copy of all the slides you use)

Everything you say in full, glorious detail

Computer projection (from either local machine or web)

Local or network web page (can make it look like slides or outline)

Powerpoint slides

Run software, java applets

Can reference any of the networked resources mentioned in next section

Teaching an entire class in a computer lab

Others?

Outside of Class

Course web pages

Use world wide web to publish announcements, corrections, lecture and discussion
notes, homework problems and answers, old exams, and grades (encoded or
password-enabled). If it's already been set up by last semester's class,
all you need to do is change the information. You might even get away with
not knowing HTML!

Student web pages

Useful for handing in assignments. They can feel pride in their work knowing
that it can be seen by a larger audience, like parents. This may push them
to a higher standard.

Newsgroups

Tremendous technology for group discussion. Very much like a bulletin board;
when used with a threaded newsreader (such as Netscape), even with high
traffic can allow very efficient organization of information. Wonderfully
asynchronous.

Mail aliases / email reflectors

Sending mail to one address sends mail to everyone. Can generate a lot
of traffic; helpful to have an email reader that allows automatic filing
into separate folders, otherwise the sheer number of messages can overwhelm.
Also asynchronous.

Chat sessions

Can schedule to have specific chat times, like "online office hours". Unfortunately,
lots of "noise" and it's synchronous, so may not be the best use of your
time. Make sure you can keep a log for archiving.

Others?

Why use technology?

In Class

Efficiency / reuse

No chalk on clothing and hands

Can type faster than you can write

Handouts allow students to focus on material, not transcription

Material is archived for future use

No need to reinvent wheel every lecture

Legibility / accuracy

Many students may find handwriting hard to read

Accurate diagrams, not just sketches

Students often copy examples and diagrams incorrectly

Effectiveness

A picture is often worth 1k words

An animation is often worth 1k pictures

An interactive demonstration is often worth 1k animations

If working in computer lab, entire class can experiment and try for themselves

Bring your own markers (make sure they're dry-erase!). They offer many
different colors, not just the standard red / green / blue / black. Some
colors are more difficult to see and erase than others, experiment.
Write legibly, pay attention to your diagrams.

Overheads

Written in real time

Bring your own pens, get additional colors. Bring lots of blank transparencies,
experiment with overlaying them for use in diagrams. Write legibly, don't
block overhead when writing.

Pre-written by hand

Bring blank transparencies for overlaying so you don't need to write
on your originals. Write legibly.

Output from computer (using Powerpoint, for example)

Print them with dark text on a white background; dark backgrounds are
intended for projection. This also saves toner. Bring blank transparencies
for overlaying so you don't need to write on your originals.

Handouts

Outline of your talk (or a copy of all the slides you use)

Print them with dark text on a white background; dark backgrounds are
intended for projection. This also saves toner. Some people find the text
too small when you print 6 slides on a page. Powerpoint allows you to print
the talk outline. If handwritten, write legibly. Photocopy double-sided.

Everything you say in full, glorious detail

This is helpful for students who miss class, but takes lots of time
to create.

Computer projection (from either local machine or from web)

Local or network web page (can make it look like slides or outline)

Use frames to make it look like slides.

Powerpoint slides

Create them with light text on dark background. See if your A/V resource
has a remote control for advancing slides. EECS has one; contact Ferenc
Kovac.

Run software, java applets

GSI teaching and resource
center has course improvement grants which can be used to hire CS undergraduates
to write interactive demonstration applets for your class. Search the web;
many instructional applets have already been written and are available.

Can reference any of the networked resources mentioned in next section

Teaching an entire class in a computer lab

Make efficient use of your time; have planned tasks already set up,
and have realistic time estimates. Consider bringing a fellow instructor
to handle problems and work the room.

Others?

Outside of Class

Course web pages

Can be edited by a team, or can assign one person to be web guru. Can
use GUI tools like Netscape's composer, Adobe Pagemill, Microsoft Frontpage,
or good old text-editing tools like emacs and BBedit.

Student web pages

Need to be wary of plagiarism. Provide them with a template to get them
started and an example page.

Newsgroups

Use as primary vehicle to post corrections / clarifications to discussions
& homework. Can't assume everyone will read newsgroup in a timely fashion;
if something is time-critical, consider an email-spam to entire class.
Also, you can delete any inappropriate message from newsgroup using Netscape.
Never post student ID numbers to list.

Mail aliases

Be sure to emphasize the difference between emailing a single person
and the whole list. Can moderate list by having all student email go to
certain account that instructional team can forward on to internal list.
Can send mail to entire class but not show addresses by using BCC or DCC
capability of email client.

Chat sessions

Set clear time boundaries; try to keep the discussion focused. Make
the archived session (or at least the most salient points) available online.

This year the campus has launched a number of new initiatives
in teaching and technology. There are more resources for faculty
and GSIs I believe. Most are listed under CyberCentral so people
can eventually get to them. Its important to note that SIMS
provides additional assistance to large classes. At ITP we
have found more and more interest in using learning mangagement
tools that integrate many of the features you discuss in your
talk on the webpage, such as discussions, chat rooms. on-line
white boards, group web accounts for projects, etc. They also
have a number of built-in features for grading and exams.
We used to focus on WebCT, but our new faculty seem to prefer
Course Info by Blackboard.